Na h-Eileanan Siar receives more than anywhere else

Play parks and green spaces in the Western Isles have faired well.

Months before news of a possible vaccine, these places were administering a vitalising shot in the arm for millions, and providing a rare chance to safely socialise, exercise and unwind.

Yet squeezed council budgets have left many communities more reliant on other ways of raising cash to care for these refuges. A significant source is lottery funding.

Parks and similar green spaces in Na h-Eileanan Siar – or projects directly linked to them – received £4.2 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in the decade to 2019-20, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The NLHF is a major distributor of lottery money – Na h-Eileanan Siar’s share was part of £406 million handed out for parks and similar green spaces across the UK over the period.

Na h-Eileanan Siar’s lottery cash for parks was equivalent to £156.41 per person in the area, based on Office for National Statistics population estimates – more than anywhere else in the UK.

The data includes funding for public parks and squares, cemeteries and pay-to-enter gardens.

While Na h-Eileanan Siar received the most per head in the country, Inverclyde got funding worth just 10p per person.